Wrecked or Restored? Revcounter 374

By: Guy Allen

Date: 06.06.2017

Never let reality get in the way of a good idea

From Unique Cars #374, April 2015

Mate, I’ve got the perfect project for you. Nice, simple and a rare car…"

It’s days like these that I wonder if it would be smarter to get a new set of friends who were into something less expensive than cars. Like drinking.

Revcounter: The danger of working with car nuts

Being a sucker for a project, despite the fact that talent, time and money are all in short supply at Chateau Guido, muggins had to have a look. Apparently it’s an early sixties Falcon Delivery, which is a rare beast.

Now before we got too far, I wanted some info. What’s the story? It’s a father/son project that never got off the ground and has been sitting in a shed ever since. Now the shed is being sold.

Is it all there? Yep, well, most of it, or at least someone spoke to a bloke, or his sister, who thought he/she saw most of it. Once. A long time ago.

Is there any rust? Nup. Well not so much that you’d notice.

Okay, so where are the pics? Oh dear. I’m no structural engineer, but the rotted holes in the critical section where the A-pillar and scuttle meet definitely got my attention. Err, about that ‘no rust’ theory… I’d hate to see something you classified as rusty.

Right, how much? Yep four grand is not a lot of money these days and may even represent value. Given it’s got some pretty good panels.

Now if I’d followed previous form, I would have leapt in immediately, cash in hand and damn the torpedoes. What could possibly go wrong?

After all, it’s a basic Ford with about seven moving parts, so it can’t cost that much money to fix, can it? Then it was time to sober up.

Past experience has taught me that resto projects – particularly those undertaken by an enthusiastic amateur like me – always run way over time and cost far more than you expected.

Which is why, in recent years, I’ve spent what seemed like a hell of a lot of money at the time to buy a couple of historic vehicles that were already restored. The result has been I’ve had months of fun on the road (instead of throwing tools and swearing in the garage) and probably couldn’t tell you what they cost a year after purchase.

Don’t get me wrong – doing up something yourself has enormous rewards (and frustrations!) but you have to have your eyes open before you start. If time, a few skills, a decent budget and deep wells of patience are at your disposal, go nuts.

There really is a warm inner glow when you conquer some tricky installation and pick up a new skill along the way.

In the meantime, I’m going to think long and hard before I tackle the Falcon. What do you reckon, is it worth the trouble? 

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